Transcript

Stephen McDowell looks at the faith of some of America's presidents

>> Stephen McDowell: Welcome to America's Providential History Podcast, where we talk about the real story of America and explore the hand of God in our history. Now, here's your host, Steven McDowell. Hello. I'm glad you're joining us for this edition of America's Providential History Podcast. Now, today, I want to pick up a, look at the faith of the presidents. In the past number of podcasts, we began to examine the faith of some of the presidents of the United States. George Washington and Jon Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Jon Quincy Adams. I want to look at a, few more. I'm not going to at this time cover all of the presidents, but want to look at a couple of more before we end this series on the faith of the presidents. And one in particular who his faith has been presented in different ways is our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln said, in regard to the great book, I have only to say it is the best gift which God has ever given man. All the good from the savior of the world is communicated to us through this book. Now, many people, may think of Lincoln in light of this quote and consider, oh, he was a Christian man and, carried and had a firm belief in Christ. But others have presented him, in a different way. One of his law partners, William Herndon, had this to say concerning Lincoln and his faith. He said, as to Mr. Lincoln's religious views, he was, in short, an infidel. An infidel is just a non believer. Herndon went on to say, Mr. Lincoln told me a thousand times that he did not believe the Bible was the revelation of God, as the Christian world contends. but in great contrast to that, the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Illinois, which, Abraham Lincoln attended along with his wife for a dozen years. He said, while I was pastor of the First Presbyterian church in Springfield, Mr. Lincoln did avow his belief in the divine authority and inspiration of the scriptures. So Here we have two different individuals who knew Mr. Lincoln and present him in a different way regarding his belief in the Christian faith and in the Scriptures and his view of the Bible. So we need to ask, well, which view is correct and why are there contrary views regarding Lincoln and his view of God's word, the Bible? Well, to understand and answer that question, it might be helpful for us to look at a couple of the biographies that were written about Lincoln and his life. Because, over time, over the years since Lincoln's death, there literally have been hundreds of books, written about Abraham Lincoln. some have estimated about 15,000 books. And there's likely over 100 books that have been written on his religion, on his faith. so there's certainly lots of different people have written about this man. And there's been different positions by people who knew him, presented of him. Now the early biographers of Lincoln, there was a number of campaign biographies, fees when he was running for president that came out which give a little insight into his faith. When Lincoln died and had their many ministers gave memorial addresses regarding his faith, there were many pastors who presented, what we will see as a change of Lincoln's belief in faith, over the years, especially during his presidential years. Now, Jon G. Holland wrote the first analysis of Lincoln's character in a biography that he rapidly wrote in 1865. And in this book he gives a very positive treatment of his, faith. Abraham Lincoln told a gentleman, a Springfield attorney, Newton Bateman. Newton Bateman was an, influential fellow. He was superintendent of public instruction for the state of Illinois for 14 years, president of Knox College for 17 years, a friend of Abraham Lincoln's from 1842 until his death. He had an adjoining law office for, about eight months prior to Lincoln going to Washington. And he served as one of the pallbearers at the funeral of Abraham Lincoln. So Newton Bateman was a man that certainly knew him. And Holland records, this statement of Newton Bateman that says, I know there is a God. and this is what Lincoln told. This is what Bateman said Lincoln told him. He said, I know there is a God and that he hates injustice and slavery. I see the storm coming. I know that his hand is in it. If he has a place in work for me, and I think he has, I believe I am ready. I am nothing. But truth is everything. I know I am right because I know that liberty is right, for Christ teaches it and Christ is God. So here we have really probably the first biography of Lincoln by Holland after his, death. And it gives a very positive treatment of his, faith. it was later on we have some of the negative assessment of, ah, Lincoln regarding his faith, calling him an infidel. Later on, some even called him a scoffer at religion. But, William, Ward Hill, layman, wrote a biography in 1872. It was largely, a lot of it was based, especially Lincoln's faith, on manuscripts that he had gotten from William Herndon. And William Herndon was a law partner of Lincoln's for a number of years. And so Layman took these notes from Herndon and presented a view of Lincoln's faith based upon that, and this is 1872 biography was the first source presenting Lincoln as an infidel. But now there were a number of problems with various statements in Layman's biography. and two people in particular that he relied upon to present ideas regarding Lincoln's faith, Jon Stuart and James Matheny. they refuted in writing, anti religious statements that were attributed to them by Layman in that biography. They say, no, we didn't say this, that at all. I'll give you a quote of that here in just a minute. So in 1872, Layman wrote a biography based upon a lot of Herndon's writings. But then William Herndon himself in 1889 wrote a biography. He reiterated some of the statements of infidelity of Lincoln while, correcting some errors of Layman he pointed out, well, yeah, some things layman said weren't right. But he went on to present Lincoln as basically an infidel. Now parts of Herndon's biography received much opposition when it was first published. In fact, it was later reissued with most of the offensive parts, removed. And Herndon portrays Lincoln's, earlier faith. Now see, when we're dealing with what view is right, is what Herndon said about him as an infidel correct, or is what Rev. Smith said about him? And there's other people who present ideas, but actually Herndon was the source of a lot of the contrary ideas. but when we're assessing Lincoln's faith, one, we have to look at who is presenting the information and also we have to present what period of time in the life of Abraham Lincoln are they trying to communicate what he believed about the Christian faith? Because as we will see, Lincoln underwent a change in his faith. He grew in his knowledge, which is true of all of us. And so many of us, grow in our knowledge of God. Many people have come to accept the living God and the true Christian faith. The more that we've learned. And Herndon, when he speaks of him as an infidel or skeptic or one that's questioning the Christian faith and some of the tenets of the faith, he's relying upon Lincoln in his earlier years. While others, ministers and others that we'll quote from, point out the change that came in Lincoln's life as he grew older and learned more, and matured in his Christian, thinking. So always need to ask when we're reading books or biographies, who is the source of this and what period are they drawing from when they're trying to assess the faith of Abraham Lincoln. And so we're pointing out just some of his biographers. Holland the first biographer, positive treatment Layman, 1872 presents him as an infidel. Herndon his law partner, basically presents him as an infidel. But he's relying upon some of the earlier things that Lincoln said and so he's portraying his earlier view of faith. In 1890 Ah, Lincoln's former secretaries Nicholas and Hay published a biography, a multi volume biography. 1893 Jon T. Morris presented a biography of Lincoln as well. And then in 1904 a gentleman by the name of Charles Miner wrote a book called the Real Lincoln. And this is not only did he say he was an infidel but he had a vicious assault on Lincoln's integrity and presented him as a scoffer of religion and that he would at times ridicule the Christian faith. And minor relies heavily on layman and he accepts his comments without review and even goes beyond these comments. And so there'd be many people today, Christians included that will read Miner's book and say Lincoln he was no Christian. Look he was a skeptic, infidel, a scoffer, an atheist are different terms that may be used. But as we're going to see that when you look at Lincoln's own words, if you look at people who knew Abraham Lincoln and the testimony they gave, then we see a Lincoln who had a Christian upbringing, went through a time of skeptical period, then went through a time where he learned and began to consider the teachings of Christianity and began to embrace that more and more and grow and grow in his knowledge. So as I said Layman who was the source of the first biography written in 1872 presenting him as an infidel and not a Christian, there's problems with that because he fails to point out other views, contrary views by people who knew Lincoln well. Plus he definitely made statements that were inaccurate. James Methaney as I said, was one of those. He relies upon and uses his words to argue the infidelity of Abraham Lincoln and another gentleman, Major Jon T. Stuart.

There are many people who refute Herndon's view on Abraham Lincoln

And both of these refute statements attributed to them. For example James Methaney, he was again a Springfield lawyer. He was a friend of Abraham Lincoln. He shared a law office with him. He wrote the language attributed to me in Mr. Layman's book is not from my pen. I did not write it and it does not express my sentiments of Mr. Lincoln life and character. While I do believe Mr. Lincoln had been an infidel in his former life, when his mind was as yet unformed and his association principally with rough and skeptical men, yet I believe that he was a very different man in later life and that after associating with a different class of men and investigating the subject, he was a firm believer in the Christian religion. And so here a guy, methane, who is quoted by layman, or I, should say misquoted or made it up, methane is addressing that and saying, you know, wait, this is not what I said, at all. And so there's a lot of testimonies that are opposed. Not just layman's view, but Herndon's view, because Herman her, Herndon, his notes were what informed layman on his writing. And later on, other people like Charles Miner, picked that up and relied upon that to present him as a skeptic, an infidel, a scoffer at religion. But again, there's many, many people who had testimonies that opposed Herndon's view. These are people that knew Abraham Lincoln. Some, his best friend, as we will see later. Some of those opposing testimonies included Reverend James Smith. Reverend Smith was the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Springfield, during which time Lincoln and his wife attended about 12 years before Lincoln was elected to the presidency. So he presents a different image, as we will, see, Thomas Lewis was a lawyer with an office next to Lincoln, and he was an elder in the church that Lincoln attended. He presents a different image than Herndon did. And then Dr. Phineas D. Gurley was the pastor of the NewSong York Avenue Presbyterian church in Washington, D.C. which is where Abraham Lincoln went to church when he was president. And Dr. Gurley presents a different image as well. In fact, he said this. I do not believe a word of it. Word of. Speaking of Herndon's charge of infidelity, he said, directly addressing that when it came out in a book, he said, I do not believe a word of it. It could not have been true of him while here, for I have had frequent and intimate conversations with him on the subject of the Bible and the Christian religion, when he could have had no motive to deceive me. And I considered him sound, not only on the truth of the Christian religion, but on, all its fundamental doctrines and teaching. And more than that, in the later days of his chastened and weary life after the death of his son Willie, one of his sons died while he was in office as president, and after his visit to the battle Of Gettysburg. He said with tears in his eyes that he had lost confidence in everything but God and that he now believed his heart was changed and that he loved the Savior. And if he was not deceived in himself, it was his intention soon to make a profession of religion. And so the pastor of the church he attended while president spoke of the change. Certainly a change took place in the heart. Abraham Lincoln, while he was president. And he underwent great, sufferings in many ways. His son died, and he was witnessing this tragedy of the civil War and so many that died there. And Mr. Gurley said he's come to rely upon the Lord that he loved the Savior and he was not. And if he was not deceived in himself, it was an intention to make a profession of religion. Then another, person who spoke contrary to Herndon's view was, Ninian W. Edwards, who was Lincoln's brother in law. Edwards knew Lincoln in Springfield and confirms Lincoln coming to be convinced of the truth of the Christian religion. So he testified that as Lincoln learned more and more and as he grew, in his later, years that he became convinced of the truth of the Christian religion. In fact, Edwards, his brother in law, wrote in 1872 that Lincoln said to him a short time after Rev. Dr. Smith became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, which was around the year 1848. Around that time, 49. 48 or 49. So he wrote. I've been reading the work. Now this is what Lincoln told his brother in law. He said, I've been reading the work of Dr. Smith, that's the pastor, on the evidences of Christianity, and have heard him preach and converse on the subject. And I am now convinced of the truth of the Christian religion. Here's another person that knew him, a relative that said that Lincoln told him he became convinced of the truth of the Christian religion. Another gentleman who testifies of belief and faith and a, growing change in Lincoln's life was Noah Brooks. He was his private secretary and his friend. Brooks said he had numerous conversations with Lincoln of a religious nature. And Lincoln freely expressed himself to me as having a hope of blessed immortality through Jesus Christ. Brooks went on to say that Lincoln identified it, that is the time of transformational belief, with about the time of Willie's death. He said too that after he went to the White House, he kept up the habit of daily prayer. Here's another friend who testified that God was at work, in his heart, especially through the trying times of his presidency. And he said God used The death of his son used the events that were taking place, in the nation to draw him to the Lord. To that, there was a change, a transformation that had occurred. And that he demonstrated that with daily habit of daily prayer. Noah Brooks went on to say, in many conversations with him, I absorbed the firm conviction that Mr. Lincoln was at heart a Christian man, believed in the Savior, and was seriously considering the step which would formally connect him with the visible church on earth. He was speaking about a public profession of faith, which Lincoln never publicly joined a church. He attended churches in Springfield and Washington, D.C. and even before Springfield, grew up attending various churches as the kind that existed around him at the time. but he never publicly joined by profession of faith. Initially he was saying, well, it seems like a lot of these churches just have too many statements. He said, get back to the fundamentals of the Christian faith and find a church that preached those primary tenets. I, then and there will be glad to do that later on. Obviously, God seemed to have changed his heart. And Reverend Gurley, the pastor of NewSong York Avenue Presbyterian Church, did express that he had intended to make a public profession of religion. But he was going to wait until after the, presidency or certainly after the war. So no one would think it was some kind of political decision at all. But he never had a chance to do that because just two days after the end of the war, he was shot and died the next day. And so Noah Brooks, who is his private secretary, his friend, is another guy who gave a testimony speaking of his profession and belief in the Christian faith. Brooks said, ah, he had numerous conversations with Lincoln of a religious nature. And Lincoln freely expressed himself to me as having a hope of blessed immortality through, Jesus Christ. Brooks spoke about that transformation that occurred while he was in office in the president. Then he went on to say, in many conversations with him, I absorbed the firm conviction that Mr. Lincoln was at heart a Christian man, believed in the Savior, and was seriously considering the step which would formally connect him with the visible church on earth. He went on to say, and this, by the way, is in a letter from Noah brooks to the Rev. J. A. Reid, written Dec. 31, 1872. Then he said, Certainly any suggestion as to Mr. Lincoln's skepticism or infidelity to me, who knew him intimately from 1862 till the time of his death, is a monstrous fiction, a shocking perversion. So here we have just a number of people who testified, who pastors and friends and, relatives and private secretary who all agree that something happened in his Life, especially in the presidency, but even before that in Illinois, that God was working on his life. And so again, some people present a view that guys like Herndon would have presented if you only take their testimony, which like Herndon, he's looking at his earlier years. Lincoln did go through different periods of faith, growth in faith, like so many people did. let's briefly look at some of his early years and Lincoln's faith. Now, Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Kentucky in 1809. His parents, Thomas and Nancy, were Baptists of the frontier variety. In fact, it's been written that his parents, Thomas and Nancy, were impacted, by the phase of the second Great Awakening in Kentucky. At the time that was the western wilderness. They had a number of different camp meetings that occurred in the early 1800s. And they were called camp meetings because these itinerant preachers would go and they would, conduct meetings. Sometimes you have seven, eight preachers at the same time for a week or more. And people from all over would get in their wagons and drive to these camp meetings and camp out to listen to all these preachers preach. And it was a camp meeting in 1806 where, Thomas and Nancy were greatly impacted, touched by God. And not long after that, they were married. And then of course, three years after that, they gave birth to their first child, their son, Abraham Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln's early education was steeped in the Bible

Now, Lincoln attended log meeting houses. He attended service or church meetings in log houses and heard a variety of preachers because where he grew up on the wilderness, early on there was no church meeting that, tenor preachers would come through. And when one came, a lot of families would gather together to hear the preacher preach. And that was kind of the first kind of churches that they had. But church was conducted in people's homes and every home had a Bible. And certainly Abraham Lincoln, his early education was steeped in the scripture because he was, taught at home. He was home educated. In fact, he said he only had six months of formal schooling and he was taught to be self taught. And so his mother, Nancy, taught Abe and her children to read the Bible. When Abraham was nine years old, his mother died. And I, think about two years later, his father is remarried to Sally Johnston, but she continued the biblical training that Nancy had begun before his mother died when he was 9. She told him, I want you to live as I have taught you and to love your heavenly Father and keep his commandments. Lincoln later remarked, all that I am or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother. So his early education was in the home by his Christian mom and later his stepmother. Certainly the Bible is the central part of his education, as it was to about every American at this, this time. Everybody had a Bible and were taught how to read the Bible. And, and early love of learning was instilled in Abraham from his parents who trained him at home. In fact, he was a vociferous reader. It was recorded he once walked seven miles to borrow an English grammar. One historian wrote he read every book he could borrow within a radius of 50 miles. And so it's certainly there's the testimony of many that he was moral and honest. He never drank, chewed or smoked, nor was he ever heard to swear. Now being growing up on the wilderness analog cabin, never having very, as he said, six months of formal schooling, he have access to large amounts of books. He would borrow and read everything he could. But in his home he just had a handful of books. But these books he read, he devoured, he studied. The Bible was certainly the central text, as we've said, and he read and studied that thoroughly. Other book that he had within his home was Aesop's Fables. Another was Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Very influential Christian classic. Robinson Crusoe is another book. It's really a tale of biblical salvation, of the transformation of this man's life and his environment. When he got the Bible and began to read it, that influenced him. Later he'd read a number of Shakespeare's plays and Parson Weems, Life of George Washington, whom he. Washington was, his hero and he wanted to emulate him. So these are just a handful of books that he had in his home he had access to. But he thoroughly digested these. And in his later speeches you can see ideas from all these books presented in his writings and in his speeches. Now in his early years, he grew up in this environment of, being taught scripture and biblical thinking, biblical worldview, believed and had preachers come around. But as he was a young man, he began to, you know, evaluate what, what do I believe regarding the Christian faith. I've heard a lot and you might say began to question it. And some charged him with infidelity. But his teacher, mentor Graham, said he was not an infidel, nor even a deist, but essentially a universalist. And what he meant by that is that, he believed Christ restored to the whole human race what had been lost through Adam's sin. So Adam's sin separated mankind from God and that Christ came into the world to restore that relationship of man to God. And so for a little period there this time of not really infidelity, but of, thinking, well, okay, Christ came and died and restored every man to God. Now this was certainly something. Later on as he grew in his faith, he didn't believe. But. But even at this early period when he was charged with infidelity, his teacher knew him, said no, he wasn't an infidel, but more of a Universalist. Now from 18, so in his early years, he grew up in Kentucky, lived there from 1809 until, 18, 30 when he moved to, Indiana around 1830. And then 1830-37 he lived in Indiana. And during this time he did various jobs. He tried to open a store with a partner. It failed. in fact, his partner took some of the proceeds and ran off. But the character of Lincoln was such that he repaid everything that he owed, borrowed to start this store. And then eventually he, studied law and found out that he enjoyed law and studied law and would later practice law. He served as postmaster of NewSong Salem from 1833-36. He was a deputy county surveyor. In 1833, in fact, he was a state legislator as. As well. Well, for four terms. 1834 to 1842. In 1837, he moved to Springfield, Illinois, where he set up law practice. Ah, where he would live until elected president in 1860 and assumed office in the first part of 1861. So he moved to Springfield in 1837 and began the practice of law. Now his first law partner was Major Jon T. Stuart from 1837-41. His second law partner was Judge Logan from M. 1841-43. And then William Herndon served as his law partner from 1843 to 1861. Now while in Springfield, he was married on November 4, 1842, to Mary Todd. Now, he began attending the First Presbyterian Church in 1848. Now, actually before Mary had gone there. But then for a few years she and Lincoln too went to an Episcopal church. But when one of their children died, by that time, Reverend Smith had become the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. And the Episcopal pastor was out of town. And so Reverend Smith, perform the service. And that's where Abraham met Reverend Smith. And they began to become, friends. And then they began Abe and Mary M. Began to attend the First Presbyterian Church after 1848. Reverend James Smith said, while I was pastor of the First Presbyterian church in Springfield, Mr. Lincoln did avow his belief in the divine authority and inspiration of the scriptures. This is A letter from James Smith to W.H. herndon, January 24, 1867. And so he's pointing out, look, he was not an infidel. This is what he professed to be. Now, Smith had given some arguments to Lincoln designed to prove the divine authority and inspiration of the Scriptures, accompanied by the arguments of infidel objectors in their own language. Well, Lincoln took these arguments, Lincoln took them. And after a thorough investigation, as a lawyer would do, the results were the announcement by himself. This is what Smith is writing. The result was, was the announcement by himself that the argument in favor of the divine authority and inspiration of the Scriptures was unanswerable. Again, that's in a letter to Herndon, 18, 67. Reverend Smith would also write in this letter, it was no doubt. It will no doubt be gratifying to the friends of Christianity to learn that very shortly after Mr. Lincoln became a member of my congregation, at my request, in the presence of a large assembly at the annual meeting of the Bible Society of Springfield, he delivered an address, the object of which was to inculcate the importance of having the Bible placed in possession of every family in the state. In the course of it, he drew a striking contrast between the decalogue and the moral codes of the most eminent lawgivers of antiquity and enclosed, as near as I can recollect, in the following language. So here it is his pastor, Reverend Smith, that Lincoln was so embracive of the divinity of Scripture and that he gave an address, a speech, arguing, toward that end, and at the close of this, Smith was recording, counting.

In this letter to Herndon, Lincoln said, it seems to me

In this letter to Herndon, Lincoln said, it seems to me that nothing short of infinite wisdom could by any possibility have devised and given to man this excellent and perfect moral code. It is suited to men in all conditions of life and includes all the duties they owe to their Creator, to themselves and to their fellow men. And so the pastor of the church he attended for a dozen years is reminding, Herndon, look, you know Abraham Lincoln. He was no infidel. He's a guy who, after I gave him some information to consider and he did great investigation, he. He became such a thorough proponent of the divinity of Scripture, the divine nature of the scriptures of the Bible, that he gave an address at the meeting of the Bible Society of Springfield. And giving an argument, yes, that it seems to me that nothing short of infinite wisdom could by any possibility have devised and given to man. This excellent and perfect moral code is suited to men in all conditions of life and includes all the duties they owe to their Creator, to themselves and to their fellow man. So here we have an orthodox belief by Lincoln of the scripture as Christians believe, it's the word of God. After Lincoln was elected president at the end of 1860 and he left Springfield in early 61 to be sworn in as president, he gave a farewell address to people gathered there in Springfield in early 1861, in which he said, I now leave not knowing when or whether ever I may return with the task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of that divine being whoever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail, trusting in him who can go with me and remain with you and be everywhere for good. Let us confidently hope that all will yet be well to his care, commending you as I hope in your prayers you will commend me. I, be bid you an affectionate farewell. So here Abraham Lincoln, obviously with 12 years of going to that First Presbyterian Church of Springfield, studying things like the divine nature of scripture, growing and learning in his faith. And when he's elected president and leaving in his address he cries out, I need that God's assistance. I'm not going to be able to succeed without your prayers and without his. With his ah, help. Now Reverend Reed summarized Lincoln's religious faith in Springfield by saying he attended church, he delivered Sunday school addresses, he gave speeches before the Bible Society and evinced in every way the conduct of a man who is leading a Christian life. And so we have, yes, maybe there was a period in his early manhood, in his 20s when he began to question is what's true, what is not true. and that appears to be the time period that Herndon's drawing upon. When he m makes his notes and tries to call him an infidel, others would pick up on that and kind of expand on it, calling him a scoffer and other things which is not from direct testimony at all. so God and his providence brings Abraham Lincoln into influenced by many ministers, including Reverend James Smith, who was the pastor of the church he attended for about 12 years. And he began to grow in his knowledge of faith. But God still had some work that he wanted to do in Abraham Lincoln's heart. in our next podcast I'm going to continue the story of the faith of Abraham Lincoln. In particular look at what happened to Lincoln during his time as president. And we'll hear testimony from friends and others who met him of continuing growth and transformation in the heart this 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. So I hope you'll join us next week, to carry on this story of the faith of Abraham Lincoln. Now, if you're interested, I wrote a small little book or booklet on Abraham Lincoln's faith. You can get a copy of that from our website, providencefoundation.com. go there, because I have all these quotes that I've given you with source materials and a whole lot more that I'm not able to cover in a couple of podcasts, so that you yourself can read was Abraham Lincoln a Christian? Or, was he a skeptic or an infidel? And decide, for yourself. But remember, when we're looking at Lincoln's faith, as it's true of any person, we need to look at who is giving the testimony. How do they know the man, how much do they know him? And then what period of time are they drawn from in his life? And so visit, our website, providencefoundation.com where you can learn a lot more about Abraham Lincoln's faith, but also in many of our other books, the faith of other presidents and the faith of many individuals that help give birth to the United States of America and advance God's story in the earth. So, I hope to see you next week. God bless you. It.